Monday, April 20, 2015

Open Carrier Targeted? WA State

A Washington State open carrier was attacked recently in the
sport goods section of a Wal-Mart, allegedly because he was open carrying. As
covered in articles by the Yakima Herald Republic here
and here,
the details follow in brief. Interestingly, the original story states the
weapon was concealed (probably poor journalism and assumption rather than
anything else).

A father, Brandon Walker, a concealed carry permittee, was
shopping with his children, purchasing a new batting helmet for his son, when
he encountered a disheveled man, Trevor Zumwalt, come into the aisle and
approached him. The man eye contact with the citizen carrier several times. Zumwalt
then drew a baseball bat from the rack and raised it to a swinging position. Walker
realized this was an attack, so he stepped into the swing to lessen the force
of the impact and turned his shoulder to take the hit from the bat. Needless to
say, a baseball bat strike to the head would probably have been incapacitating,
if not fatal.

Walker was carrying a Sig Sauer P226, a double-action
pistol, with an unloaded chamber. After the initial swing, Walker drew his
pistol, racked the slide, aimed it at Zumwalt, and ordered Zumwalt to the
ground. Zumwalt complied. Walker had a Wal-Mart manager call the police, who
arrived and arrested Zumwalt, who is now facing felony assault charges.

In an interview with Bearingarms.com,
Walker spoke about his carrying habits.

“The other take-away from this situation is that he may have
made a mistake in not opting to grab his jacket out of the trunk of his car,
which he normally wears and would have concealed his handgun.”

Open carry is not a mistake. It a personal choice of a
method of carry. Open carry does entail safety precautions, number one being
situation awareness, which is what allowed Mr. Walker to live that day. Walker
saw Zumwalt, took notice of his appearance and behavior, then was able to
anticipate that Zumwalt’s ‘practice swing’ was an attack. Being equally
observant is required to prevent a potential gun snatch, not just an attack.

The assumption being made in this article and in the
open/concealed carry community (as well as in the broader gun debate) is
whether or not open carry made Walker a target. Without a statement from
Zumwalt, we will never know. From what Bearing Arms has reported, Zumwalt may
be mentally ill. He may have chosen Walker for any reason. Walker himself was
the one who speculated that Zumwalt targeted him to snatch his gun, which would
only seem to make sense if Zumwalt were mentally ill and deranged enough to
think a bat attack against a gun-armed victim would work.

A rhetorical question: What if Zumwalt attacked a reason
other than his gun?

“From now on, Mr. Walker will carry concealed, and already
has just the sidearm picked out for the summer months ahead. The only time
he’ll open carry from now on is at the range.”

That’s Mr. Walker’s personal choice. Given the
circumstances, I doubt anyone can fault him. Yet his experience is not the one
experience which disproves the rule that open
carry is safe, nor is it part of an epidemic of attacks against open
carriers. The debate among open carrier and concealed carriers is deterrence
versus surprise. Among the arguments for both method of carry, open carry proponents
state that open carry allows for criminals to be deterred by the sight of an
armed potential victim, while concealed carry proponents prefer the element of
surprise.

Concealed carry proponents and instructors often take this
too far as to say that open carry is dangerous, that it provokes attacks
(usually to steal the firearm) and would make the open carrier the criminal or
terrorists first target. There is no body of evidence, aside from the very few,
nuanced stories like these, to prove that open carriers are attacked for or
because of their guns. The issue can become quite contentious.

Open carry and concealed carry have their own unique
advantages and disadvantages; neither method is superior to the other.

Concealed carry is not a cure-all for avoiding firearm-based
attacks from occurring. For all but the slim in proper clothing and with
well-fitted holsters, concealed weapons often produce a tell-tale bulge under
the clothing, using the back right side of the body, and concealed guns often ‘print’
their outlines through clothing. In fact, a Florida concealed
carrier was attacked in a Wal-Mart when someone saw him holster up in the
parking lot. In less obvious cases, trained eyes know what to look for when
looking for a concealed weapon.

We are still waiting for an actual, confirmed story where there is no doubt about the attacker's intent to either kill, injure, or disarm an open carrier.

Walker’s Mistake

The mistake made by Walker was the fact he carried his
pistol in Condition Three (also called Israeli Carry), where there was no round
in the chamber, requiring him to rack the slide before acquiring his target.
While some states like Utah mandate this for unlicensed open carriers,
Washington does not, and Walker was a licensed concealed carrier.

The act of having to draw the weapon and chamber a round
takes time. For a well-practiced shooter who is comfortable with his firearm,
this procedure may seem like one fluid movement. Unfortunately, many who are
new to carrying firearms for self-defense feel uncomfortable with a ‘loaded’
firearm and choose to carry this way. Someone who is so afraid of their weapon ‘accidentally’
going off will likely have trouble drawing and acquiring their target in a
life-threatening situation and accordingly may well forget to chamber the first
round. Having only a few seconds to react to a violent attack is not the time
to fumble with a gun, especially if one is not well-practiced with it.

In Walker’s case, had the attack continued, he may have had
to fend off the bat while trying to rack his pistol’s slide, which requires
both hands. Imagine if that first blow to his shoulder had broken his non-shooting
hand. How would he chamber a round then? What if he was struck in the head and
disoriented? Dazed and on the verge of consciousness, would he remember or even
have the ability (mental or physical) to perform that vital action before
taking aim? Situation awareness and knowledge of his gun saved Walker’s life.

Anyone who does not feel comfortable carrying a round in the
chamber of their pistol should undergo more instructor-led shooting training
and learn the mechanics of modern firearms. The vast majority of quality guns
produced within the last 30 years or so, if built and maintained properly, will
not fire unless the trigger is actually pulled. The best practice is trigger
discipline and keeping the index finger off the trigger and out of the trigger
guard until it is time to shoot, laying it along the frame of the weapon.
Practicing this time and time again will make it muscle memory and natural
under stress. If none of these techniques can convince someone to stop
Condition Three carry, that person ought not to carry at all.

This story is not a reason to stop open carrying or to be
afraid of it. It’s a success story actually, about a man who saved his life and
that of his children by being aware of his surroundings and not freezing under
threat. Situational awareness is the most important self-defense measure
anyone, armed or not, can take.

1 comment:

I disagree...Racking the pistol does not require both hands for a trained Israeli combat shooter. In Israeli combat shooting which is the training that the IDF go through there are specific drills with just this specific snenario of been temporarily disabled on one arm and having to rack with one hand and also reload and change magazine with only one hand if necessary. I carry cold and there are plenty advantages in doing so but I agree that no matter what style you choose extensive training is recommended to develop your muscle memeory in high adrenaline situation.